Fairy Tales Do Come True
by gijane197702
Summary: Trying to get a stubborn four year old Nymphadora to bed, Andromeda and Ted tell her a special story.


Fairy Tales Do Come TrueGijane  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 1371 wordsSummary: Trying to get a stubborn four year old Nymphadora to bed, Andromeda and Ted tell her a special story.  
Author's Notes: I wrote a fic over on LJ's RT Challenge. This fic is based on the lines in that fic.Thanks to gloryforever for her beta and idea.  
Disclaimer: Andromeda, Nymphadora, and Ted Tonks are from the magical world of _Harry Potter_. They belong to JK Rowling and all her Associates.

Andromeda Tonks slumped in defeat against the wall outside her daughter's bedroom and closed her eyes in defeat. How hard was it to get your four year old to bed? The answer was that it was nearly impossible. Nymphadora was point blank refusing to go to sleep. She was currently in her bed, but not sleeping.

At her wit's end, Andromeda was wondering what to do next when the front door opened, then closed, downstairs. She heard her husband walk around looking for her. Andromeda breathed a sigh of relief: Ted had arrived home from his double shift at St Mungo's.

"Hello," he called quietly as he climbed the stairs to the first floor. "Andi?"

"Daddy!" squealed Nymphadora as she bolted out of her bedroom, past her mother, and into Ted's open arms.

"And why aren't you asleep, young lady?" Ted asked, swinging her up and kissing her.

"I waited for you!" Nymphadora pecked a kiss on his nose. "I want you to tell me a bedtime story, not Mummy," she told him as he carried her back to her bedroom.

Ted glanced back at Andromeda, who rolled her eyes. "You should be asleep, Nymphadora!" he told her.

"But-"

"Mummy tells you to go to bed, you go to bed!" Ted chastised gently.

"But I wanted you," Nymphadora told him. She pouted her lower lip and batted her dark brown eyes up at her father. She was absolutely adorable in her pink frilly nightgown and blonde pigtails, sitting in her bed, surrounded by all her stuffed animals.

Andromeda had already fallen for it, but not Ted. He was a much better at parenting than she was. He had helped raise his younger brothers and sister. She had been raised with the thinking she'd have a house-elf to take care of the children.

"Don't you try to use that cuteness on me, Nymphadora Isis Tonks."

Andromeda suppressed at grin at the knowing look on her daughter's face. Once Ted used her full given name, she knew the game was up.

"Then you _and_ Mummy tell me a story," she said, switching tactics.

Andromeda would not be surprised if Nymphadora grew up to be a Hit Wizard or, Merlin forbid, an Auror. She actually shuddered at that thought.

Ted looked up at her, understanding. Dark Wizardry held sway over most of her relatives. Her greatest fear was losing Ted and Nymphadora at a family member's hands.

"Mummy and I are going to tell you a very special story," Ted told Nymphadora. "But first you have to get tucked up in bed. Mummy'll do that while I change. I've been in these robes for nearly twenty hours." He wrinkled his nose as he shook his lime-green Healer robes.

"Okay, Daddy," Nymphadora giggled. Ted placed a quick kiss on Andromeda's lips as he left the room, causing Nymphadora to giggle more.

"Under the covers, you," Andromeda told her.

"I'm sorry, Mummy," Nymphadora told her as she buried under the covers.

Andromeda smiled down at her. She was such a precarious child. Sitting down on the bed next to her, she began to braid one of Nymphadora's pigtails as they waited for Ted.

"Here I am, my ladies," he called a few minutes later, bustling back into Nymphadora's room. Ted had taken a quick shower and changed into Muggle jeans and a jumper. "All right, one bedtime story coming up." He picked up Nymphadora, who squealed with delight as he swung her round.

"Edward," Andromeda said in a warning tone.

"Oh dear," Ted whispered loudly to Nymphadora. "Mummy used my given name." Together, they giggled. Andromeda suppressed a smile. "The story," he cleared his throat and winked at his wife. "Once upon a time-"

"Wait!" shrieked Nymphadora, interrupting. "I have to be under the covers and I need Hoppy!"

Ted made a great show of tucking her in and handing her the stuffed rabbit she had since she was an infant. Andromeda's heart constricted a bit as her daughter snuggled up to her Hoppy. Her cousin, Sirius, had given Nymphadora the rabbit when she was born. He had used all his pocket money for it and earned himself a serious punishment from his mother for even acknowledging the Tonkses. They hadn't seen Sirius in several months, since he was off at school.

"All settled in now?" Ted asked. He sat at one end of the bed and Andromeda sat at the other.

"Yes, Daddy!"

"All right. Once upon a time there was a beautiful Princess and a Prince-"

"A very handsome Prince," Andromeda interrupted. Ted winked at her.

"A very handsome Prince from another kingdom who loved the Princess since the first time he saw her, but the Princess had been raised to know that she would never love or marry that Prince, but a Prince of her own kingdom."

"Why?" Nymphadora asked, yawning.

"Because her family said so," Andromeda told her.

"Why?" Nymphadora asked again.

"Because…that's the way things worked in that kingdom," Ted told her.

"Oh." She paused to think about that, then said, "Daddy, when I grow up I can marry anyone, right?"

"As long as he loves you and you love him, sweetheart." Nymphadora smiled. "Where was I? The Prince loved the Princess, but she wouldn't give him the time of day."

"Ted!"

"Well, she wouldn't," he kept on; ignoring the look she was giving him. "But the Prince understood why. Finally, after seven long years, he was desperate. The Princess was set to marry another Prince," Ted paused as Nymphadora gasped. "So, the Prince finally worked up the nerve to ask the Princess if he court her. Do you know what she said?" he asked his daughter.

"Yes?" Nymphadora asked sleepily.

"She said no!" Ted said dramatically, clutching his heart.

"Why?" she demanded.

"Because the Princess had an Evil Queen who forbid her from seeing any other Prince from different kingdoms. She knew who the Princess was going to marry one day and had convinced the Princess of this as well. Unfortunately for the Evil Queen, the Prince never gave up on the Princess. He kept asking to court her, and asking to court her, and finally, one day , the Princess said yes!!"

"She did?" squealed Nymphadora excitedly, sitting up in bed wide-eyed. "Yay!"

Andromeda sighed. Nymphadora was almost asleep up to that point.

"Well…the Evil Queen had a Minion who was spied on the Prince and Princess. The Minion reported to the Evil Queen that the Prince was courting the Princess."

"Oh no!" Nymphadora cried.

"Oh yes!"

"What did the Evil Queen do?" Andromeda asked, trying to move the story along.

Ted gave her a look. "She took the beautiful Princess, who had fallen in love with the Prince, and locked her away in a room in her castle!"

"Oh no!" cried Nymphadora again.

"Here, baby, snuggle in again," Ted told her, tucking her in again. "Fortunately for the Prince, and unfortunately for the Evil Queen, there was a young Page in the castle that was on the Princess' side."

Andromeda tucked Hoppy back in, brushing a curl back off her daughter's forehead. Her eyes where already re-glazing over with sleep. Nymphadora sleepily smiled up at her; meanwhile, Ted continued the story, but in a lower tone.

"Late one dark and stormy night, the Page broke the Princess out of her locked room. He led her quietly downstairs and to the back door. There, waiting for his Princess, was the Prince," he paused for dramatic effect.

Andromeda smiled at him when he got no response from their daughter. "She's asleep."

"Thank goodness. I'm totally exhausted." He held out his arms to her. "Take me to bed, my love."

Standing up, Andromeda hauled him to his feet. They quietly made their way out of Nymphadora's room and down the corridor to their own. Ted flopped down on the bed exaggeratedly, causing her to giggle. "Do you think she'll ever figure out who the Prince and Princess were?" he asked her.

"Perhaps one day she will, when she's older. But I want to know if the Prince and Princess live happily ever after." She got into bed and cuddled up to him.

"Come here, Princess, and I'll show you they did!"


End file.
